BILL NUMBER: AJR 16	CHAPTERED  09/08/99

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   105
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 8, 1999
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 2, 1999
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   AUGUST 30, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 23, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 16, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Torlakson

                        APRIL 29, 1999

   Assembly Joint Resolution No. 16--Relative to trucks entering
California from foreign nations.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 16, Torlakson.  Transportation:  trucks from Mexico.
   This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress to
maintain the existing restrictions on trucks from Mexico and other
foreign nations entering California and to continue efforts to ensure
full compliance by the owners and drivers of those trucks with all
highway safety, environmental, and drug-enforcement laws.




   WHEREAS, A recent study by the United States Government Accounting
Office (GAO) found that Mexican commercial trucks entering the
United States often fail to meet basic safety standards; and
   WHEREAS, The GAO reported that Mexican trucks entering the United
States may have serious safety violations impacting highway safety,
including broken suspension systems, substandard tires, inoperable
brakes, overweight loads, and improperly maintained hazardous
material loads; and
   WHEREAS, The report of the federal Office of the Inspector General
titled, "Motor Carrier Safety Program for Commercial Trucks at U.S.
Borders," issued on December 28, 1998, identified California as the
only state that enforces the Federal Operating Authority Regulation
and complimented California for having both the best inspection
practices and the lowest out-of-service rate; and
   WHEREAS, Mexico has no automated system by which California law
enforcement officials can determine whether a Mexican commercial
driver has a valid license or a driving or criminal record; and
   WHEREAS, The government of Mexico has no laws limiting the maximum
number of hours that drivers may safely operate a commercial vehicle
and no system of worker's compensation insurance to protect drivers
who are injured while at work; and
   WHEREAS, Mexico's mandatory alcohol and drug testing program does
not adequately test commercial drivers and its substance-abuse
testing laboratory has not been certified by the United States
Department of Transportation to meet internationally agreed-upon
standards for accuracy; and
   WHEREAS, "Operation Alliance," a federally sponsored
drug-enforcement coordinating agency and the United States Customs
Service drug-inspection program found that drug traffickers are
becoming owners of, or are obtaining controlling interests in,
transportation businesses, such as trucking companies, warehouses,
and semi-trailer manufacturing companies, in order to take advantage
of the increased trucking trade authorized by the North American Free
Trade Agreement; and
   WHEREAS, The Southern California Association of Governments
recently passed a resolution authorizing its regional council to
alert the President of the United States to the "major safety issues
involved in trucking regulations under the North American Free Trade
Agreement"; and
   WHEREAS, The federal government has chosen not to implement the
provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement that call for
unlimited access by Mexican trucks to the territory of the State of
California; now therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature memorializes the President and the
Congress of the United States to maintain the existing restrictions
on trucks from Mexico and other foreign nations entering California
and to continue efforts to ensure full compliance by the owners and
drivers of those trucks with all highway safety, environmental, and
drug-enforcement laws; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and the Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each
Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the
United States, and to the Governor.
